Society tells you to be yourself
Society then wraps it's cold hands around your neck
And says "But only the you I want you to be"
Society creates you out of the cruel past
And creates fairytales for you
That won't ever last

It is only you who can decide who you are
They say
But then they reach in,
Strangle you from the inside out

I have seen many an individual try,
And subsequently fail
To break out of these time withered hands
But it is only the sparse few
That can look society in the face
And speak without trembling
That pull free of their grasp

I have seen so very many
women,
mothers,
children
Suffering with the weight of society
Bent over, walking with a hunch
Because no one, not one person
Could lend them a hand

Society tells you that you are equal in the eyes of God
Tells you that God is love
Then turns around
And tells you that love is blind